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Writing for more than 40 years
Winner of Sunday Times Literary Award for Confessions of a Gambler

Apr 3, 2012

Plastic surgery for Barbie

It sounds a little flat to say that surgery is all the rage these days as it is a very long time now that women have resorted to a little nip and tuck and plumping up plastic surgery procedures and I have no problem with that. I am however astounded by the number of young people who have scarcely grown out of their training bras who come into the doctor’s office with their Barbie Doll mom with a picture of Racquel Welch and say, ‘I want to look like that.’

What is happening to our kids? Nobody looks like Racquel Welch; not even Racquel, not anymore. We get older, we become sensible and responsible. It was therefore with something of a shock some days ago that I learned of a very special voucher that a mother gave her seven year old daughter; the ‘gift of plastic surgery’ – a voucher for a breast augmentation which she could keep and utilize when she was eighteen, and another voucher recently of $11,000 for any surgery she wants to have.

What message does this mother send to her child? That she is not good enough, that there is something wrong with her? It’s unbelievable how insecure some women are that they would think unnecessary surgery for a child that age is all right. People resorting to plastic surgery when none is needed do not have high self esteem. They rate themselves not on who they are and the values they have, but on appearance. A seven year old is a child; she should be running about in the park and playing with kids her own age. She is too young to make such a decision. What is her mother thinking? And who is the surgeon who will cut into the supple skin of a child to cater to her precocious whims? You are too old to be Barbie; better that you give the doll to the child and you learn what it takes to be a responsible mom.